December 14, 2017

“When you hear music,“ jazz saxophonist Eric Dolphy once remarked, “After it’s over, it’s gone, in the air. You can never capture it again.”

In varying degrees that is true of all live performances. They have their moment, their season and then are gone. Sometimes they remain vivid, but eventually, even excellent productions and outstanding performances drift into imperfect recollection and generalised hearsay. Maggie Smith once remarked- “Every performance is a ghost.”

I hope this website, for all its sometimes unwelcome opinions, is a useful record of some of the notable activity in Adelaide this year.

I want to thank all the companies and creatives who have generously invited me to performances in 2017 and to acknowledge your continuing commitment and achievement.

It is always hard to create good work and these are especially difficult times in which to operate. It was the esteemed Broadway director, Harold Clurman who remarked – “people ask me why the theatre is mediocre. And I say art is mediocre when the country is mediocre.”

That may be an overstatement but the past several years have been disastrous for imaginative work to thrive. Australia Council funding was imperiously intercepted by Senator Brandis in 2015 and has only recently been partially returned by Senator Fifield.

In that time of needless stringency and uncertainty many artists were broken on the wheel and reputable companies hit the wall.
Given such deliberate undermining of Australian creativity, the achievements of our artists, operating in such hostile conditions, are nothing short of heroic.

2017 has shown some increase in the funding and encouragement of performing artists in South Australia but it is still a long way short of the levels of support of, for instance, twenty years ago -and there is much more to be done.

Nonetheless performing artists this year have continued to produce original and exceptional work.

Last year when I posted my list of Best Of’s, among the many comments and responses was the vinegary remark- “Who cares ?”

The answer to that question is that I care. And audiences, friends of the artists, and their peers care. Outstanding work deserves to be recognised and applauded. My admiration for all concerned is greater than ever.

Here is a list of my selections for this year – not in any rank order, and by no means all that deserve mention.

Best Five Adelaide Productions

The Secret River (by Kate Grenville, adapted for the stage by Andrew Bovell, directed by Neil Armfield. Sydney Theatre Company).

Mr Burns – A Post-Electric Play (by Anne Washburn, directed by Imara Savage. State Theatre Company and Belvoir).

Rabbits (by Emily Steel, directed by Daisy Brown. Steel and Brown in association with State Theatre Company and InSpace program).

Emil and the Detectives (by Erich Kastner adapted for the stage by Nicki Bloom, directed by Andy Packer. Slingsby).

Hi Murray,
I was wondering if you will continue to write these great reviews through the Adelaide Fringe again this year? If so, is there a way I can get in contact with you to inform you about a show I am involved with?